After the Court of Appeal yesterday overturned the first-instance verdict of the Special Department of the Higher Court in Podgorica against the suspects for planning the murder of Marko Ljubiša Kan, at the beginning of 2021, the question is once again being raised in Budva whether the sky correspondence is valid evidence.
A large number of indictments against former statesmen are based precisely on this material, which some lawyers consider controversial.
The repeal of the first sky verdict in Montenegro has re-raised the issue of using sky communications as evidence.
The Court of Appeal yesterday overturned the verdict sentencing a five-member criminal organization for planning the murder of Budva resident Marko Ljubiša Kan in January 2021 to a total of 20 and a half years in prison.
This is the first first-instance verdict to be handed down based on a wiretap. However, the case will again be heard by the Podgorica High Court.
"The Court of Appeal found that the reasons therein are unclear and significantly contradictory in the part that concerns the so-called sky communication, primarily the manner in which the communication was obtained, the legal nature of the communication, its compliance with the principles of the domestic legal system and generally accepted rules of international law, and its authenticity," said attorney Zdravko Begović.
Dozens of indictments, hundreds of members of criminal organizations, dozens of people killed, millions of dollars in laundered money. This is a brief summary of what Sky Material, an application through which members of organized crime groups (OCG) allegedly communicated carelessly, has led to in Montenegro.
At the same time, there has been a debate for four years about whether the Sky app is valid evidence or not. For the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT), it is, while for a large number of lawyers, it is not.
"Such a communication can only be operational data or, as legal theorists would say, indicative evidence, and certainly not evidence on which a court decision can and should be based. Considering the practice in the EU, after the Luxembourg court ruling, to be honest, it may happen that we have more such rulings in the Court of Appeal that will treat this type of encrypted communication in this way," said Begović.
"This material should be treated like any other evidence. It cannot be the queen of evidence, as is sometimes said, and it cannot have primacy over all other evidence. What was collected through Sky Communications should be confirmed by other personal and material evidence," said lawyer Veselin Radulović.
Sky has appeared as evidence in a large number of cases against former statesmen before the Special Department of the High Court, such as the case against former Supreme Court President Vesna Medenica, her son Miloš and other members of his criminal organization, in cases against former police chiefs Veselin Veljović and Slavko Stojanović, and then the president of the Municipality of Budva Milo Božović.
"The public had the opportunity to see a lot of disturbing messages in some cases, so to speak, photographs, recordings, and textual content that indicated the commission of very serious and criminal offenses, and it is difficult to ignore this in all cases and for someone to claim that this cannot be evidence," said Radulović.
So far, the High, Appellate and Supreme Courts have accepted sky as evidence, but only when determining and extending detention, that is, up to the level of reasonable suspicion of someone's guilt.
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